Production post 1

     While filming in the bar we went through a lot of various shots. Some of them ended up coming out really good, but we want it to be perfect. The thing about the shots is that some of them were way to dark, even though that was the point of having dim lights, it cam out way to dark having shots like the one below. 

   

 Another thing we found difficult is having to hold the camera. No one can hold the camera except Arthur because its his dads and its expensive, so he dosent want to risk breaking it. The issues we had with him where when he was filming he would shake a little too much and would kind of throw off the scene. Not only that but he also had some rough ideas that were not the greatest so we had to as a group turn him down a lot because the vision me and maxi had was different then Arthurs. This threw off the groups chemistry a bit and made our filming look a little more choppy than we hoped. We hope by the next filming date we have more united ideas and our discussions will help us reach our final product. 

How To Create Specific Effects: Reverse Zoom

     The Reverse Zoom shot is used to enhance the way we view a character facial expression. This adds a twisted sense to the scene because it creates a sense of unease in the audience because of the warp effect that it makes when shot properly. The reverse zoom isn't really particular to any genre. But if it were particular to one it would be horror, because of the sense of uneasiness.

    The way this shot is created is by pulling the camera back in a direction while zooming into the opposite direction than the direction the camera is going. If the camera is moving forwards that means you zoom out. If the camera is moving backwards you zoom inwards. This is what creates the warped effect that we see in the scenes below.

    

    

Story Board

    Our storyboard is used to plan our scenes. It also gives us an idea of what we are gonna do in each scene, how many scenes are we doing, and the camera shots we are doing.

    In this first half of the story board it is about how our main character is at the bar. In this we talk about the camera shots we want to use. We also set up for how we are going to transition in to the scene for the forest.

    The drawings we use are not super specific but they paint the picture for what we are going to do. This helps us complete the final vision of our project.

    The second half of the story board we use it to portray what is going to happen inside the forest. We use basic stick figures to show our main characters body movement.     

    The one thing I regret about this story board is not showing that much facial expressions. I wish we used more faces to show the main characters emotions rather than writing out what he is feeling under the box. Overall I think that the story board will really benefit us by helping us be able to speed up the filming process. It will also help the editor quickly be able to organize themselves by quickly identifying which scenes to put in what order.

Audio

    While filming our opening there is obviously gonna be noise that we can’t control. We will attempt to try these noises to a limit so that we don’t have to refill. When it comes to the sounds we want, we want a lot of like cars and like people walking and talking in the scene where the bar is. This is because we want there to be a lot of people around in the bar. This will be because it will raise the question, how did he end up in the middle of nowhere and how did no one notice? Then once he is in the forest we want to isolate the noises he makes. This would help the audience feel his fear. We also want this so that the audience knows that he is truly alone, because if there is other sounds around him, other than like birds or like squirrels, then it would people. The whole point of the forest is to be alone and gloomy, and having other people being heard would ruin this. We plan on using foley to make footsteps around him

Planning Post Focusing On Mise-En-Scene Element Part: 2

    The mise-en-scene we talked about before was about costumes and setting, as well as props and make up. In this I will focus on the lighting and color. 

    In our opening I wanna have a lot of darker colors such as in the bar, mainly being brown with deep lighting and having it take place at night. As for the forest I wanna have the forest have a lot of dark green, obviously it will be green cause of the amount of vegetation. But the dark green creates contrast against a rocky path. As well as the dark brown dirt that is on the ground. As for the sky we will choose a cloudy day to film as a neutral grey would serve best making everything pop out. It would also make the forest look much more depressing having it be dark and gloomy instead of being bright and vivid.

    Depth of field is something we want to use a couple time throughout the opening since it really capture the emotions of our main character face. Some examples of this would be when he first sees the doll, when he slips in the bathroom and we cut to the opening credits, and when he initially realizes that he is in a forest in the middle of nowhere.

    Our characters are consistently focused on one guy through out the entire opening. The only part where either someone besides the main character is really shown, is when the main character is leaning against the wall waiting in line to use this sink. This character doesn't do anything significant, it is just that because of him we see the main character slip conscious and then end up in the middle of a forest. As for what he does, he just uses the sink and washes his hands and then leaves the restroom.

  

Planning Post Focusing On Mise-En-Scene Element

     My group and I have decided on 2 two setting, one being a bar and the other one being a forest. Specifically for the bar scene we are going to be filming at a place in Weston Town Center and for the forest we are going behind the soccer fields at Weston regional park in to the everglades to film the forest part. The reason we chose these locations is because at town center there is a lot of night life as a lot of small business and restaurants are located there, and it is a popular spot among adolescents to socialize, and the everglades were chosen because of the 

color scheme and there being a lot of green and

brown as well as there being dim lighting.

    Our main character will be attire will be business casual as he will have just gotten off of work and go for a drink. Him wearing this style of clothing aids one of our ideas about a doll hanging from a tree by his tie in which had left behind. We came up with this because a lot of people fear dolls. Furthermore the doll we bought is already "scary" but we decided make it a bit scarier by making it really dirty, adding blood, and taking out one of the eyes.

 

    Our main character wakes up in the middle of the forest after having a lot of drinks. Therefore, he might be a little more pale and have really dark and big eye bags which we will give to him through makeup. The issue with this is that our whole group is guys and none of us have any experience with anything to do with makeup. For this reason we will have a mutual friend of ours to come in and help us set up that whole aspect of the eye bags and 

making our main character more pale.

  
   

Charachter Development

    After many conversations my group and I have finally developed a character. At first we wanted to name our character Robert, but we felt like this name wasn't really suitable for our character. The reason behind this is we want a name that doesn't sound "un-approachable" if that makes since, for example would you go up to a guy named Robert or a guy named Andrew. For this reason, we decided on calling him James, we felt that this someone with this name can be casual as well as be sophisticated. Not only that but James was one of the most popular boy's names in the year 2004, which is his birth year.

    More info about our character is that he is a single male age 21, born January 5, 2004. Our story takes place in the year 2025, in a bar where James walks in after his internship. He is attire is business casual and he is at the bar in hopes to find a special lady. This is a regular night for James as balancing school, work, and friends is extremely difficult and stressful. As a result James ends up alone at the bar consuming ridiculous amounts of alchol regularly.

 

  

Script

     Now that my group and I have developed an idea we started developing a script. We use it so that when we go to film we don't just make up things and "wing it". The script gives us a structure and helps us plan out when and where we are going to film.

Script

FADE IN:

EXT. TOWN CENTER - NIGHT

A bustling urban setting. Neon lights illuminate the streets. Cars honk in the distance. People chatter.

INT. BAR - NIGHT

A dimly lit, upscale bar. The MAIN CHARACTER (mid-30s, well-dressed in a suit and tie) sits alone at the counter, nursing a glass of whiskey.

BARTENDER: Another one?

MAIN CHARACTER: (loosely) Yeah, keep 'em coming.

Glasses clink. Drinks flow. The MAIN CHARACTER becomes visibly drunk, his speech slurring, his movements sluggish. He stumbles toward the bathroom.

INT. BAR BATHROOM - NIGHT

The MAIN CHARACTER washes his face, breathing heavily. He grips the sink, eyes bloodshot. He slumps to the floor.

His vision blurs. Darkness creeps in.

FADE TO BLACK.

TITLES & CREDITS ROLL: Title: Into The Forest Directed by: [Director Name] Written by: [Writer Name] Produced by: [Producer Name] Starring: [Main Cast Names] Cinematography: [Cinematographer Name] Music by: [Composer Name] Edited by: [Editor Name]

FADE IN:

EXT. FOREST - DAWN

Birds chirp faintly. Leaves rustle in the breeze. The MAIN CHARACTER lies on damp ground, disoriented. His suit is rumpled.

He gasps awake, clutching his chest. He looks around, confusion and fear in his eyes.

MAIN CHARACTER: (whispers) What the hell...

He stands, breathing heavily. His heartbeat audible, gradually increasing in intensity.

He pushes through the trees.

EXT. FOREST PATH - CONTINUOUS

The MAIN CHARACTER spots a weathered sign nailed to a tree. It reads: “DO NOT CONTINUE.”

He hesitates, then scoffs.

MAIN CHARACTER: (sarcastic) Sure... whatever you say.

He yanks off his tie, drops it onto the ground, and moves forward.

Leaves crunch underfoot. His heartbeat quickens. His panting grows louder.

EXT. DEEPER INTO THE FOREST - MOMENTS LATER

The MAIN CHARACTER freezes. Ahead, dangling from a low branch is a GRUESOME DOLL. Its head is cracked, eyes hollow. The TIE he discarded is wrapped around its neck.

MAIN CHARACTER: (softly) What... the... fuck?

He steps closer, heart pounding.

Suddenly, a TAP on his shoulder.

He spins around. Nothing.

MAIN CHARACTER: (whispers) Hello?

Silence.

He turns back to the branch. The DOLL is gone.

A CHILLING ECHOED LAUGH reverberates through the trees.

The MAIN CHARACTER stumbles backward, eyes darting in panic.

His breathing sharpens. His heartbeat pounds louder and louder.

FADE TO BLACK.

THE LAUGHING CONTINUES.

END OF OPENING SCENE.

    Although it isn't super lengthy, it cover everything in our opening. Not only that but it also leaves us with a little bit of wiggle room so that if we want to be creative and come up with a cool shot to add we are able to go a little bit over the time goal we set for ourselves.

 

Project Idea

     Now we have come to our last and final idea. Our idea is that we have a guy go out for drinks at a bar, or something that looks like a bar since we are underage. While at this bar he takes many shots of "tequila" or "vodka", and as well, he will have a couple glasses of whiskey (apple juice). Now the audience gets the point that our actor is gonna become intoxicated. Then we have the guy stumble out the "bar" and go to a bathroom where he leans against the wall and he slips. Then we flick to a black screen and play the credits. Once the tittle and credits role the guy wakes up in a forest and is startled but doesn't show much fear at first because he is still kind of effected from the drinks last night. As he sits up and begins to get comfortable, by taking off his blazer and tie, he begins to walk around. After walking around for a bit he enters a secluded area with a DO NOT ENTER sign. Once entering this area he begins to get chills feeling weird and becoming a little more paranoid. Now he hears leaves and branches crunching on the ground around him as if someone was walking towards him. After looking around panicking even falling over. He is at the foot of a tree where they look up and sees there is a doll tied to a tree, with his tie making a noose around her its neck. Now the guy is petrified, but stands up and begins to run away and once gets some distance he turns around to see if it is still there. Once he turns around he gets a tap on the shoulder and the opening ends.

    The idea now is to not give away so much in the begging of the opening cause now the people watching wanna see what is gonna happen. For example is the person tapping him on the shoulder friend or foe. It also begs the question that how did the doll get there and especially why is the main characters tie, which he had just left behind 30 seconds ago, around her neck now. Last, the biggest question of all, what happened to the guy and how did he end up in the middle of some random creepy forest. These are mysterious aspects that is gonna draw audience to stay and watch our film.

Media Theory

     My group and I have decided that the one media theory we want to incorporate into our opening is Semiotic Theory of Barthes. This theory explores how we portray meaning and emotion, through signs and symbols. Roland Gerard Barthes was a French literary theorist, his work consisted of analyzing many sign systems, mainly from Western popular culture. This theory is used quite often as you are interpreting what mis-en-scene represents in the "bigger picture". An example of this is a Jack in the box because, it it completely regular children's toy.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

    In this film a completely random board game, a Ouija board is turned in to something horrific. At first the girl in the short excerpt from the film used the board to talk to her dead father and maybe see him through the piece with the glass. It seemed strange but nothing horrific or terrifying about it, but later when a demon posses her through the board and take hold of her the completely normal Ouija board is something now horrific. This movie was so big that it even got the board banned in some places, for example The Netherlands, as it is seen as something that is satanic.

Anabelle

    Anabelle is another example of Semiotic theory of Barthes as a completely regular doll is made creepy. In the short excerpt from the film we see how the doll is paired up with other elements to bring horror. This was one of the first movies centered around a creepy doll and it paved the way for many other doll horror film, such as "The Boy", "Dead Silence", and "Childs Play".

Reflection post about group meeting #1

    While in class the other day I got an amazing opportunity to receive feedback and on my ideas, what's inspiring me, and what I want to do for this portfolio project from my peers. I also, as well, got to give feedback to my classmates on what they have done so far. 

Giving Feedback

    When giving feedback I tried not to overdue it and change their whole production, especially when it came to projects that I am unfamiliar with as I would probably not give as much accurate information back to. I found myself discussing about a lot of romance, which is not something I am a huge fan on. Some girls chose to have a narrative type of opening, this meant that they would be voicing over what's happening saying what the main character is thinking. For this film I didn't know what I could give for feedback, so all I could think about was telling my group member not to forget about background noises and aspects, so it wouldn't be just a bland no noises, only talking type of audio playing. Which would negatively effect the final result of the production because, having this would most likely bore the audience. 

    A different group member had a different type of romance involve, one that is from enemies to lovers. The way they were going to do this is by having a minor frustration be how they meet. The example she had was the guy in the film takes the girls parking spot, although this is an inconvenience our table thought there wasn't much to build upon it. So we decided to make it based in a school and have the guy bump into her and make her spill her coffee, not only this, but we also suggested to make them have a class together which they loved.

    Another genre which was brought up was thriller. The idea was to have man find a pair of glasses which would give him the ability to see ghosts. Although this was a very creative idea there was a flaws in the storyline. The storyline at first was an FBI agent is at a crime scene investigating a murder, and the victim had glasses in which he picks up and sees a ghost through them. The issue is why would an FBI agent put on the glasses of a murder victim? So we had the idea to make it like visions of what happened and be able to communicate with the person that they are envisioning. Then we also suggested to make the visions happen whenever they touch a personal item of someone. Finally, we also like wanted to show that the person can see what happen and communicate with the ghost, so we suggested that the murder victim tell the FBI agent where the murderer went.

Receiving Feedback

    I started off by telling my plot to my group and what it was based around. They followed up by comparing a film to it. Then I told them about a lot of opening which I have researched on and some of my ideas and what our teacher thought about them. The concept of the film is that a man finds himself in a forest and proceeds to get stuck in some sort of loop where no matter how hard he tries and how hard he runs he cant escape it always ending up finding himself where he began. The idea we had originally is to have him get snuck up on and have him scream and end it there. Once that happens the screen turns black says the tittle and figure out what to do from there. The reason I believe we got told no by our teacher is because we have nothing to build on, the main characters appeared to have been "killed". This is true, but a girl in my meeting group said that we could make the film on how he got to that point. Then when the screen turns black and after the tittle is displayed we are ale to show a sentence that says "one year ago" and build it upon that.

    Overall I would say that the experience was amazing and that having your peers who are extremely open minded look at your work and give constructive criticism. Not only this but being able to gain inspiration from multiple film ideas is incredible as well. Not only this but you can find films that are similar to yours because of your group. For example, my group said that I should watch the film "In the Tall Grass", because it is really similar and it can inspire my group and I and can benefit our production.

Schedule

    The purpose a schedule is necessary is to keep our group working on time so that we can get this project done on time and not only that but if we have any issues we are able to correct them appropriately so that we can complete this project to the best of our abilities. It also helps us not to procrastinate and to actually get our work done.

The schedule is as follows:

Week 1 (2/3-2/9)

- Research - Develop concept and theme - Movie plot development - Initial script draft - Brainstorm visual style and tone

Week 2 (2/10-2/16)

- Finalize script - Create storyboard - Location scouting - Finalize who is acting - Set filming schedule - Begin gathering props and costumes (if needed)

Week 3 (2/17-2/23)

- Start production - Film key scenes - Begin collecting sound effects and foley (if needed for scenes)

Week 4 (2/24-3/2)

- Start editing - Review footage and identify reshoots - Record additional foley (if needed) - Begin adding sound design and music (if it looks and sounds promising)

Week 5 (3/3-3/9)

- Start closing up editing - Check out different editing choices - Test different pacing and transitions - Gather feedback and make necessary changes

Week 6 (3/10-3/16)

- Finalize editing - Color correction and sound mixing - Write and record Creative Critical Reflection - Review and polish the CCR

Week 7 (3/17-3/25)

- Buffer week for any adjustments - Final review and polish - Export the final version - Submit project

Color Schemes

     Color plays a big part in films. It can really help to set the mood and tone of what is to come and really can just make a scene really come to life. For example if something happy is happening you would genuinely lean to brighter colors and when something more serious or sorrow is happening you would lean more to darker colors. A prime example of this is trolls, seen as happy fun, loving, and energetic the singing tiny trolls are bright colors. Whilst the big trolls which are shown as sad depressed ogres are dark colors usually grey and even their community has little to no color whilst the tiny trolls are in a vibrant,  colorful, and lively community.

    There are 7 types of color schemes complementary, analogous, monochromatic, triadic, split complementary, tetradic, achromatic each one has different combinations of colors and effect film in different manors.

Complementary: Opposite colors on color wheel

What does it do?: It creates contrast which in turn makes the colors pop out more and grabs attention easier. This is also used often to create tension.

Example: Red and Green

Analogous: Three colors next to one another on color wheel

What does it do?: Shows harmony and unity, this helps better establish the mood of a film and assists in creating an emotional connection with the piece.

Example: Red, Red-Violet, and Violet

Monochromatic: Using many hues of a single color

What does it do?: Limits color palette and enhances mood while being easy on eyes.

Example: Blue, Light-Blue, Dark-Blue 

Triadic: All colors are spaced out from one another exactly 120 degrees from one another

What does it do?: Creates a balance through out the palette and creates a vibrant scene

Example: Red, Blue, and Yellow

Split Complementary: A palette that consists of 1 base color and 2 secondary colors

What does it do?: Paints a harmonic picture while still having some contrast

Example: Green, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green

Tetradic: 1 primary color, 2 complementary colors, as well as an accent color all spread evenly through out the color wheel

What does it do?: Maximum contrast and balance at once

Example: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow

Achromatic: Lacking hue

What does it do: Limit the effect of what color does

Example: Only Black, Grey, and White

Starting Cambridge Portfolio Project

    In class we have just started our end of the year portfolio project and for this we have to create a film opening for a made up film. The purpose of writing these blogs is now to keep track of our work and also our planning. As well as what we will learn while doing this project. 

    At first we contemplated many genre such as comedy. We thought about developing a character instead of a like storyline but we realized 2 things quickly, the first being we realized that we are not that funny and would quickly run out of comedically things to be said or done. The second being that we cant just say jokes without purpose so that means that we have to tie it back to like the plot and it has to be relevant and as well as has to make sense. So we decide to not to comedy.

    The second genre we thought of was horror. This makes a lot more sense since Arthur, Max, and me are all avid fans of horror and we watch it a lot. So we felt that we could do the bets by combining our ideas and inspirations from past films to create this project. We also felt that developing a character would be much simpler and much more clear through a 2 minute horror film opening than a comedy opening. We also felt that we could be a lot more creative with the horror opening because it gives us more room to wiggle around in a comfortable area 

Research/Analyze/Discuss Three Credit Sequences From Films Within Chosen Genre

 It

    Its credits sequence are built up of multiple components the background, the music, and the colors. It has a depressing music which sets the mood quickly, this paired with the rain makes it feel very gloomy. The colors are all extremely dark having a lot of different colors but primarily, dark green, grey, red, and even whilst indoors it is very dimly lit. The background throughout the opening is constantly changing as the character focused on in the opening it moving around. The thing that stays consistent throughout the story is the tone and mood always being extremely depressing and sorrowful because of the constant music to make everything much more meaningful adds a lot of emotion to the credit sequence.

Jaws

    Unlike the opening credits of It, the opening credit for Jaws has 2 aspects to it. The first one being the begging being very tense, as we hear music that seems to become almost more aggressive as it plays longer and longer. Also we are underwater most likely looking through the eyes of a shark. The second aspect is how quickly the mood changes from a aggressive blood hungry song to an extremely relaxed scene full with kazoo music, in which there is a bunch of teenagers doing what was fun back in 1975 when the film aired. The change from a very aggressive moment to a much more relaxed easy going moment changes the mood and eases the audience whom might've quickly become tense at the begging of the music.

The Exorcist

The opening credits for The Exorcist is the quickest straight to the point. Instantly creepy as we see a couple alone at night walking along the sidewalk. Then a horrific shrill-like violin music comes on as the credits are displayed in bold bright red letters. This paired with the colors of the opening mainly being dark green and black as well as the only source of light being a street light from far away. All of these things play a very big role in the tone and mood of the film opening as they make the story instantly creepy.